China has found a new way of raining on jaywalkers’ parades.

In the city of Daye, five bright yellow bollards installed at a pedestrian crossing have a nasty surprise in store for pedestrians who flout the law.

A laser sensor that identifies movement off the curb when the light is still red triggers a spray of water, directed at the rogue pedestrian’s feet. The bollard also announces “Please do not cross the street, crossing is dangerous.”

“To avoid the laser hurting children’s eyes, we reduced the height from 1.2 meters to 0.8 meters,” deputy head of publicity for the Daye public security bureau Wan Xinqiang told China Daily.

The system cost approximately $207,000 US and, if results prove positive with this initial experiment, the city plans to recreate it. "If the equipment works well, we will utilise it throughout the city," Wan said.

Taking the deterrent a step further, the bollards are also fitted with facial recognition technology; fall afoul of them and your face will be displayed for all to see on a giant LED screen next to the crossing and uploaded to a police database.

The use of facial recognition technology is soaring in China, Business Insider Australia reports; so, it makes sense that the technology is being used to tackle road safety. According to the World Health Organisation, China had more than 260,000 road traffic deaths in 2013.

In the city of Shenzen, population 12 million, a company called Intellifusion has worked with local police to set up more AI-powered boards that project jaywalkers’ faces,

The company is also exploring collaborating with mobile carriers and messaging platforms like WeChat, China's version of WhatsApp, to notify jaywalkers of their transgression on their phones. 

Over a period of 10 months, ending in February this year, the AI board in Shenzen displayed 13,930 faces of jaywalkers, The South China Morning Post reports.